Effects of the Resolution and Kinematics of Olfactory Appendages on the Interception of Chemical Signals in a Turbulent Odor Plume

A variety of animals use olfactory appendages bearing arrays of chemosensory neurons to detect chemical signatures in the water or air around them. This study investigates how particular aspects of the design and behavior of such olfactory appendages on benthic aquatic animals affect the patterns of intercepted chemical signals in a turbulent odor plume. We use virtual olfactory `sensors' and `antennules' (arrays of sensors on olfactory appendages) to interrogate the concentration field from an experimental dataset of a scalar plume developing in a turbulent boundary layer. The aspects of the sensors that we vary are: (1) The spatial and temporal scales over which chemical signals arriving at the receptors of a sensor are averaged (e.g., by subsequent neural processing), and (2) the shape and orientation of a sensor with respect to ambient water flow. Our results indicate that changes in the spatial and temporal resolution of a sensor can dramatically alter its interception of the intermittency and variability of the scalar field in a plume. By comparing stationary antennules with those sweeping through the flow (as during antennule flicking by the spiny lobster, Panulirus argus), we show that flicking alters the frequency content of the scalar signal, and increases the likelihood that the antennule encounters peak events. Flicking also enables a long, slender (i.e., one-dimensional) antennule to intercept two-dimensional scalar patterns.     

Biofilm cue for larval settlement in Hydroides elegans (Polychaeta): is contact necessary?

Larvae of many sessile marine invertebrates settle in response to surface microbial communities (biofilms), but the effects of soluble compounds from biofilms in affecting larval behavior prior to settlement, attachment, and metamorphosis have been little studied. This question was addressed by videotaping the behavior of competent larvae of the serpulid, Hydroides elegans, above settlement-inducing biofilms. Adult worms were collected in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, USA in November 2012 and spawned almost immediately. Six-day old larvae were placed in five replicated treatments in small cups: (1) with a natural biofilm; (2) with a natural biofilm on an 8-µm screen, 1 mm above the bottom of a clean cup; (3) with a natural biofilm beneath a clean screen; (4) in a clean cup; and (5) in a clean cup with a clean screen. Using the videotapes, larval swimming speeds and trajectories were quantified within 5 min of the larvae being placed in a treatment. Only larvae that touched a biofilm, i.e., in treatments (1) and (2), slowed their swimming speed and increased the amount of time spent crawling rather than swimming. This shows that under these conditions, any soluble cues emanating from a biofilm do not affect settlement behavior. Furthermore, after 24 h close to 100 % of larva in the two accessible biofilm treatments had metamorphosed and <15 % in treatments that included a biofilm under a clean screen and no biofilm at all, strongly suggesting that soluble cues for settlement were not produced by the biofilms over the longer time period.     

Heavy metals in seaducks and mussels from misty fjords national monument in Southeast Alaska

Quartz Hill, in Misty Fjords National Monument near Ketchikan, Alaska, is the site of a proposed molybdenum-producing mine. To provide baseline data for use in post-development comparisons, we analyzed tissues of Barrow's goldeneyes (Bucephala islandica), common mergansers (Mergus merganser), and blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) for seven heavy metals that could potentially be released into the environment as a result of mining operations. Specimens were collected in 1980, 1981, and 1982 from two fjords likely to be used for discharge of tailings from the proposed mine and from two control fjords. Concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, chromium, molybdenum, lead, and zinc were measured in soft tissues of mussels and in kidney, liver, and muscle of birds. The highest mean concentrations of metals found in bird tissues were 55.7 ppm dry weight cadmium in kidneys and 154 ppm dry weight zinc in livers of Barrow's goldeneyes. Concentrations of several metals in blue mussels differed among seasons and locations, but the most significant finding in mussels was a maximum mean cadmium concentration of 9.6 ppm dry weight, a level higher than normally found in undisturbed areas. With the exception of 104 ppm dry weight cadmium in the kidney of one common merganser and 12.7 ppm dry weight lead in the kidney of another, concentrations of other metals in seaduck and mussel tissues were low, consistent with what would be expected for a pre-development environment. Molybdenum was found in low concentrations (<10 ppm dry weight) in all avian kidney samples and most liver samples, but was not detected in blue mussels.THE U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHT TO RETAIN A NON-EXCLUSIVE, ROYALTY FREE LICENCE IN AND TO ANY COPYRIGHT IS ACKNOWLEDGED.     

Predation on zooplankton by the benthic anthozoans Alcyonium siderium (Alcyonacea) and Metridium senile (Actiniaria) in the New England subtidal

The Alcyonacean octocoral Alcyonium siderium Verrill and the sea anemone Metridium senile (L.), the only common perennial zooplanktivores on shallow (16-m depth) subtidal rock walls in much of northern New England, USA, are of similar heights and overlap in their habitat and microhabit distributions. The coelenteron contents of both species were sampled at four-hour intervals over a diel cycle and were compared to zooplankton available in the water at 1 to 5 cm from the rock wall, the height at which the cnidarians held their feeding tentacles. Prey in coelenterons of A. siderium were significantly smaller (means of 256 to 345 m), and those in coelenterons of M. senile were equal to or slightly greater in length (means of 415 to 1006 m) than the available zooplankton. The diets of A. siderium and M. senile differed significantly from each other and from the available zooplankton. A. siderium showed strong positive electivites for ascidian larvae and for foraminiferans, and strongly negative electivities for most crustaceans. M. senile had strong positive electivities for barnacle cyprids, ascidian larvae, and gammarid amphipods, and strong negative electivities for invertebrate eggs, foraminiferans, calanoid and harpacticoid copepods, and ostracods. Electivities may reflect tentacle avoidance or escape by motile prey as well as predator preference. Substratum-associated organisms (e.g. demersal crustaceans, larvae of benthic invertebrates) were the most common items in the diets of both species, suggesting a tight benthic food web, similar to the situation for coral reef anthrozoans which rely on reef-generated zooplankton. A. siderium ate large numbers of ascidian larvae which, as benthic adults, compete for space with A. siderium and can overgrow small colonies. Predation on the larvae of a competing species may alleviate competition by decreasing the competitor's recruitment.     

Corbicula fluminea gene expression modulated by CeO2 nanomaterials and salinity

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Cerium dioxide nanomaterials (CeO2 NMs) are used in different fields and incorporated in daily products. Several studies highlighted their effects on...     

Flow,flapping, and photosynthesis ofNereocystis leutkeana: a functional comparison of undulate and flat blade morphologies

A number of species of macroalagae possess a flat, strap-like blade morphology in habitats exposed to rapidly-moving water whereas those at protected sites have a wider, undulate blade shape. We have explored the functional consequences of flat, narrow vs. wide, undulate blade morphologies in the giant bull kelpNereocystis luetkeana. Our study focused on the behavior of blades in ambient water currents and the consequences of that behavior to breakage and to photosynthesis. In flowing water, the narrow, flat blades flap with lower amplitude and collapse together into a more streamlined bundle than do wide, undulate blades, and hence experience lower drag per blade area at a given flow velocity. If the algae at current-swept sites had ruffled blades, drag forces would sometimes be sufficient to break the stipes. However, flat blades in a streamlined bundle experience more self-shading than do undulate blades, which remain spread out in water currents. Thus, there is a morphological trade-off between reducing drag and reducing self-shading. Photosynthetic¹⁴C-HCO₃ uptake rates decrease in slow flow when the boundary layer along the blade surface across which diffusion takes place is relatively thick. However, blade flapping, which stirs water near the blade surface, enhances carbon uptake rates in slow water currents for both the undulate and the flat morphologies.